Sparkling Cyanide: 3 (Colonel Race)

In Sparkling Cyanide, Agatha Christie seats six--including a murderer--around a dining table set for seven, one year to the day that a beautiful heiress was poisoned in that very room.

Six people sit down to a sumptuous meal at a table laid for seven. In front of the empty place is a sprig of rosemary--rosemary for remembrance. A strange sentiment considering no one is likely to forget the night, exactly a year ago, that Rosemary Barton died at exactly the same table, her beautiful face unrecognizable, convulsed with pain and horror.

But then Rosemary had always been memorable--she had the ability to arouse strong passions in most people she met. In one case, strong enough to kill. . . .

Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a British crime writer best known for her detective novels and short stories. According to Guinness World Records, she is the best-selling novelist of all time, her novels having sold over four billion copies and having been translated into more than one hundred languages. The Agatha Award for best mystery and crime writers was named in her honor.